Menifee schools start new year

MENIFEE -- On the first day back to school Tuesday, teachers at
Menifee and Freedom Crest elementary schools gave the usual
lectures introducing their students to a new year and their new
grade-levels.

Some children were excited about getting the latest sneakers and
chatting with old friends, but they didn't have much to say about
how they spent their summer vacations, because they hadn't had much
of one yet.

For school districts that operate on a traditional schedule,
students get about a two-and-a-half month break before they come
back to class, giving them and the school staff ample time to
prepare for the coming year.

Because the Menifee Union School district operates on a
year-round schedule, students are put into groups, and their breaks
are staggered so that one-fourth of the students are off at any
given time. For several groups, this schedule means the new school
year starts only a few days after the last year ended.

Although the schedule was created out of necessity to cope with
overcrowding, teachers, administrators and support staff have
adjusted in creative and often highly coordinated ways to get
everything done for the new year in a short period of time.

Teachers ending the school year must file grades, report test
scores, clean their rooms and get materials ready for a different
group of students in less than a week.

Administrators and secretaries must assess enrollment, and place
children in the appropriate classes, while scheduling building
maintenance, mailing out information to parents and hiring new
staff as needed.

At the front office at Freedom Crest Elementary after school
Tuesday, office clerk Kim Boudreaux was registering a student,
fielding calls from parents and trying to find rides home for
children who wandered into the office.

She had the job of placing about 530 students into new classes,
while trying to keep an even ratio of male to female students in
every class.

"It comes down to this -- to get it all done and to get to sleep
at night, you have to go above and beyond," she said.

For Boudreaux, going above and beyond means trying to prepare
for every circumstance, staying extremely organized and always
keeping up with her work.

Valorie Cleary, a third-grade teacher at Menifee Elementary,
worked three days last week and all weekend preparing her classroom
for the first day of school.

She has worked in schools that operate year-round her entire
15-year career, but still finds the process of finishing paperwork
on her old class and updating records and supplies for the new
class a challenge, she said.

Her room is filled with colorful bulletin boards, the windows
are washed, the stairs leading to the door are swept and stacks of
worksheet copies are piled on her desk -- the fruits of her weekend
labor.

The Fourth of July holiday has never been a time when Cleary
stays out late, since she has too much to do to get ready for her
students, she says.

"You have to keep on top of (your) work," she said. "It's
persistence -- you just stay at it."

Leigh Lockwood, the principal at Menifee Elementary, said
Tuesday was one of the smoothest first days ever in her experience
at the school. Although getting the school cleaned and ready for
about 800 students has been a challenge -- construction work at the
site has generated dust and grime covering the ground -- she and
other school officials have been planning since January for the
transition.

Getting books to all the teachers, adjusting desks and ordering
supplies must be coordinated or classrooms will start without
essential school tools, she said.

Little things such as organizing volunteers to come to the
school last week to stuff 900 parent packets and make copies, and
going out into the community to educate parents on when to register
their children have paid off, she said.

Many residents just moving into the community are unfamiliar
with the year-round system, and some have registered their children
for school almost two months late in the past, she said.

Garry Winn, principal at Freedom Crest Elementary, said it is
the combined effort of everyone making good decisions that allows
the school to transition into the new year smoothly.